Promoter Eddie Hearn blew his stack on Saturday night after watching his fighter, WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov, lose a controversial 12-round unanimous decision to Terence Crawford in their highly publicized headliner on DAZN at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The scores were 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113.
Hearn says Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) didn’t do enough to deserve a victory, and he feels to beat a world champion, you have to do more than what he showed against Madrimov.
Fan and Social Media Backlash
Fans on social media agree with Hearn, believing that Madrimov was outstanding, out-punching Crawford and exposing him as an aging fighter who isn’t the fighter he once was.
The Crawford we saw a year ago against Errol Spence no longer exists. He aged in the last 13 months, and looked nowhere near that level against Madrimov, getting beaten to the punch and needing a strong 12th round to earn a controversial decision.
Madrimov says he should have won, and he wants His Excellency Turki Alalshikh to make that fight happen. However, Turki and Crawford have other ideas, with both wanting to make a fight against Canelo Alvarez next year. They’re not going to want to take a risky rematch with Madrimov that won’t pay nearly as well.
“You get no respect on the scorecards. I’m not saying it’s a robbery, but I thought we nicked it. If we lost a split, fair enough,” said Eddie Hearn to the Stomping Grounds YouTube channel, reacting to his fighter, Israil Madrimov’s controversial loss to Terence Crawford on Saturday night,
“As you go into a fight as a champion, you still got to dethrone a champion. You see Bud come out like a train in the twelfth. Why do you think that was? Because his corner told him, ‘You need to win the last round.’”
Crawford showed in the fight that he doesn’t possess the power to dominate at 154 like he’d been doing after 147, 140, and 135. Things are a lot different for Crawford at 154, and if he chooses to stay around and fight the top-rung guys, he’s going to start racking up losses.
Team Crawford’s Anxiousness
“They [Team Crawford] got in the ring after the fight, ‘This is close,’ they probably won’t say that, but they knew,” said Hearn. “Everyone knew it was so close. Madrimov could have done a bit more. He could have emptied the tank a little bit more, but it was his 11th fight. I feel like he could have beaten the pound-for-pound #1 tonight.”
Team Crawford obviously knows the three judges gave them a gift against Madrimov, but they’re not going to say no because their goal is to get the Canelo fight and the most money possible.
“That it could have gone either way, basically,” said Hearn when asked what the general consensus was at the end of the twelfth round. A lot of people had Madrimov winning the fight through ten and Terence closed the fight well.
“I thought the 11th was close. I thought Terence won the 12th, but Madrimov had good moments. Terence was badly marked up, and he couldn’t miss him with a right hand. He landed the heavier shot son him unquestionable. Terence had some nice flurries.’
Even the 12th round was a close one because Crawford took big shots from Madrimov that landed far more power and cleaner than the ones he connected with. He landed more shots than Madrimov in the round, but they weren’t as eye-catching.
“It just felt like a hometown scorecard. Not a decision because Terence could have won because it was that kind of fight,” said Hearn. “It just feels like the 116-112 scorecard; why did we come here? That’s what [Madrimov’s manager] Vadim was worried about.”
With the money Crawford generated and the big fight against Canelo out there, Madrimov had no chance of winning the decision and needed a knockout.
“I think he was extremely concerned because he thought Madrimov might have got it,’ said Hearn when asked what His Excellency Turki Alalshikh felt at the end of the fight, just like most people at Ringside. It was that kind of fight.
“If Madrimov was some random mandatory challenger that comes over to America. But when you come in and your belts are on the line. I’m not saying you got to do more to win, but in a way, you have,” said Hearn.
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